European Commission
Malmström

Today we received the news from Athens that former Vice President at the European Central Bank, Lucas Papademos, will form the new interim government in Greece. News that is welcomed – hopefully this will create some calm and stability. Both the EU and the International Monetary Fund have been very clear that no money will be paid to Greece until there is a government that supports the necessary reforms. Now we are also waiting to hear about who the new Prime Minister of Italy will be – and of course who will form the government of Belgium.

It’s been a hectic day today. I began the morning by talking at the European Integration Forum, an annual event organized by the Commission together with the Economic and Social Committee. The conference brings together representatives from Member States, government agencies, municipalities and organizations. The focus for this year’s Forum was on the role of the country of origin in successful integration and about circular migration. Then I rushed to a round table discussion which focused on borders and border control, followed by a meeting with a delegation of senators from the French Senate. We had a long discussion on asylum, migration and above all on Schengen. From the French quarter, there has been some criticism of the Schengen proposal I presented in September. The French think we go too far in suggesting that the decision to reintroduce borders should be taken at the European level. But it was a useful and constructive discussion.

Before lunch I also had a meeting with Alexander Bastrykin, who is chairman of Russia’s Investigation Committee. The Committee is tasked with investigating serious crime, and will report directly to the President. I raised the EU’s concern about the Magnitsky-cases and the murder of Natalia Estemirova, which the Committee is looking into.

The last formal meeting was with Torbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe. We tend to meet regularly to discuss issues of common interest, but as we haven’t seen each other for a while, the lion’s share of the conversation revolved around the horrible events in Norway this summer.